chapter 9

The next day was Monday. The day of the week didn't matter, except Sunday since that was both weigh in and payday for the girls. Other than that, one day just melted into the next, with eating, eating and more eating. Jack enjoying eating with the girls, especially as their English was getting better. They had a lot of fun trying to communicate with their broken English and his terrible Spanish. Tina would let it go on for a while and then step in to translate and help the girls learn new words. It led to long relaxing meals for all of them. Jack began to wonder if he hadn't put on a couple of pounds himself, since he was eating a lot more than in his old life. Nothing like what the girls were putting away, but enough that he figured that he had probably picked up a little weight. He didn't worry about it. Why should he?

Sunday came, and with it came the weigh in ritual. Tina weighed first, for a change. She was back to her old highest of 140. That was a total of 18 pounds in three weeks. Katrina got on the scale, and she was up to an even 170. Sixteen total pounds gained for her. Then came Marti, who now weighed 175. Starting at 158, she had 17 new pounds on her. Finally came Felicia. She hadn't been happy about only gaining three pounds the previous week, and she's been eating like a woman possessed. She got on the scale and saw that her efforts had paid off. She was now 157 pounds. She'd gained five pounds this week, for a total of 12 pounds. That didn't sound like much, but considering that she was barely over five feet tall, it was pretty good.

Jack got on his laptop and transferred their payments. When he was done, Tina said, "Thanks, Jack. Well, this has been a lot fun, but we've decided it's time to go." Jack was shocked. He hadn't seen this coming at all.

"Go? Why? I thought you were all having fun? Why are you going?"

"Well Jack, it's like this. We've all gained a some weight and made a nice little bit of change. And being 15 or so pounds overweight is no big deal. With a little effort we can lose it. And if the rest of the girls want to go back to dancing, they can, after they lose a little weight. But what if we gain 50 or 60 pounds like you want us to? None of the girls would be able to go back to dancing, and you can't live on 50, 60 grand for more than a year or so. So it's time to get back to the real world."

"What does it take to change your minds? Wouldn't you like to keep living here in paradise? Is it more money you want?"

"We talked about that, Jack. It would take a lot more money. Enough that we'd have plenty to live on for a good while."

"So how much are we talking about here? You want me to double it? Two thousand a pound?"

Tina smiled. "No, we think ten thousand a pound is about right."

That caught Jack by surprise. They would each have a hundred grand by gaining only ten pounds. He realized that he was going to have to pay them more, but he needed to figure out how much to pay them so that they would want to keep gaining, but not so much that they would be ready to leave again after only ten or twenty pounds. It wasn't that he couldn't afford it. He could. He had put most of his money in the hands of a broker, and the broker had already made him what he paid for the resort, and almost covered what he had paid the girls. But he didn't want to pay them so much that they would leave after only a few more pounds. "I'm offering two thousand a pound."

Tina shook her head. "Not enough, Jack. But we'll be reasonable. Nine."

"Three," answered Jack. They went back and forth for a while and Jack said, "Look, we'll split the difference. Five thousand a pound. Or I go back to Corpus and find new girls."

Tina and girls talked in high speed Spanish for a moment. She turned back around, stuck out her hand and said, "You've got a deal." And with that, they headed out. It was lunchtime.

That night, it was Tina that showed up in his cabana. "Well Jack, I enjoyed doing business with you. Like to do a little more?" With that she perched herself in his lap. At 140 pounds, she was a comfortable weight in his lap. He thought about her with another 50 or so pounds, too much for lap sitting then.

"What kind of business do you have in mind?" Although he was sure he knew what it was.

"Same kind that you did with Katrina. How would like some of me, Jack?"

"Sounds good to me, Tina. Same price, a thousand dollars, right?"

"Jack, that was when we were getting a thousand dollars a pound. Now we're getting five thousand. So it's five thousand for the night." As Tina talked she was running her fingers through his hair and across his lips.

"Oh, why the hell not," Jack answered. "And you want to get paid up front, right?" Tina nodded and Jack went to work on his laptop. It was good to be rich.